WSN Buzz
Fresh updates on wireless networks standards and new technologies
Archive for November, 2009
November 26, 2009 at 3:26 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today its support for a future smart grid standard under development from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Itron fully anticipates that its OpenWay smart grid solution, including currently delivered hardware and operational software components, can support full compliance with both the mandatory and optional specifications of IEEE’s Task Group 802.15.4g (TG4g) Smart Utility Network (SUN) proposed standard.
Once fully ratified, TG4g SUN will enable interoperable communications between smart grid devices, including smart meters, to establish common and consistent communication parameters that further define requirements for utilities which have large geographically diverse networks and mass numbers of smart endpoints to support.
More here.
November 26, 2009 at 3:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications announced a liaison agreement with the DLMS User Association to collaborate on metering data compatibility.
The two groups will define a method to transport IEC standard DLMS/COSEM messages sending metering data through ZigBee Smart Energy networks. The result will expand ZigBee Smart Energy to support complex metering applications, and will provide utilities and energy service providers with a standard for a variety of Smart Grid energy management and efficiency programs and services.
More here.
November 25, 2009 at 2:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
DimOnOff officially launches its multi-technology approach at Contech tradeshow today. After many months of research and development, DimOnOff has managed to combine the use of 7 different telecommunication technologies into the most versatile hybrid control and monitoring system. This new system brings together EnOcean products for short range wireless batteryless sensors and controls, powerline communication relays and interfaces for short, medium and long range and harsh environments, XBEE wireless mesh networking, self discovery and self healing technology for relays and interfaces, low voltage twisted pair relays and interfaces, RS232/RS485 interfaces and WIFI and Ethernet devices.
All of those can be used in any combinations to cover all type of lighting control and automation situations. With every technology having its weaknesses and strengths, the new hybrid approach make it possible to easily switch to another technology only to work with the strengths of each. This also allows to create the most cost effective and less invasive solutions in new and existing buildings.
About DimOnOff
DimOnOff is an innovative Quebec, Canada based company, specializing in manufacturing and R&D of distributed lighting control, automation and energy management electronic products and software. Our main markets are control & monitoring of municipal, commercial and industrial lighting such as parking lots, car dealerships, baseball diamonds, ice rinks, gymnasiums, classrooms, boardrooms, office buildings, hospitals and street lighting systems, just to name a few. More details at www.dimonoff.com.
November 22, 2009 at 10:57 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
First stop for this group should be the US Congress to educate, as they need some of this knowledge so they can create and pass laws that are useful and meaningful, kind of like what everyone is shaking around with meaningful use.
All the wireless solutions are there with companies biting at the bit to make a dollar and thus products are thrown at healthcare professionals and patients and not implemented properly. While they are at it, they might want to meet with the Participatory Sensing Group at UCLA and get some insight beyond proof of concept. It’s a Catch 22 as some companies can’t stay in business if product is delayed and have funding, so the push is there without human concern, just get the dollars they say. We all suffer over that one too, not that the technology is bad, but implementation is the key along with education. The White House is very aware of this study, too bad Congress is not.
More here.
November 22, 2009 at 10:56 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Dozens of home energy monitors are coming to market, but nobody knows whether only hybrid Prius owners will use them.
Whole home energy monitors, or displays, are designed to help consumers conserve energy by providing far more detailed information than a monthly bill. These types of devices are already available, but millions more are poised to enter U.S. homes in the next two years, largely through utility-run smart grid programs.
The gadgets themselves vary, but the common thread among them is the ability to capture a stream of energy information from a meter at a given moment. Simply by surfacing real-time data, either with a small device or Web software, it’s believed the system will prompt people to change their habits and ratchet down consumption by 5 percent to 15 percent, according to studies (PDF).
More here.
November 22, 2009 at 10:52 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The budding field of Body Area Networks gives new meaning to the term “personal” in PCs. In a nutshell, the technology leverages wireless communications protocols that allow for low-powered sensors to communicate with one another and transmit data to a local base station and to remote places like hospitals.
For instance, small flat sensors placed on the skin, or even under it, could be used to create a “medical” body area network that provides doctors with real-time data about their patients’ bio-signs. Another key application is short-range person-to-person communications that could help protect front line soldiers in combat.
BAN technology is still in its infancy and mainstream adoption is still over the horizon as engineers and researchers work to overcome challenges involving interoperability, sensor design constraints (i.e. power and complexity), privacy, and security to name a few. Once these issues are overcome, expect BANs to first revolutionize healthcare allowing for concepts like telemedicine and mHealth to become real, and potentially allow for groundbreaking uses in communications, security, and sports.
More here.
November 20, 2009 at 6:57 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
While the debate over how — or if — consumers will want to manage their home energy consumption makes a lot of headlines, commercial buildings suck up 18 percent of the total energy consumption in the U.S. and represent one of the biggest opportunities for energy efficiency improvements and carbon reduction. According to Pike Research, the market for energy management systems — stuff like wireless sensor networks, lighting controls, and heating and cooling management in buildings — will turn into a $6.8 billion-a-year market by 2020 and will generate investment of $67.6 billion between 2010 and 2020.
More here.
November 18, 2009 at 1:23 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Much has been written about how the bitter rivalry between Google and Microsoft has extended to their respective home energy management systems, Google PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm. But most of these stories make it sound like the tools render the same service: reporting how much energy people are using and how much it is costing them. Few have sussed out their subtler differences.
With so many smaller players in the home energy monitoring field (think OpenPeak, Tendril, People Power, Gridpoint, etc.) and with Microsoft and Google predicted to rise to the fore, consumers and potential partners will need to have a clear idea of how these offerings differ.
More here.
November 18, 2009 at 9:36 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Our 6LoWPAN book has now been released by Wiley. Last week we received the very first copies directly in Japan while at IETF-76. Pre-orders should start arriving any time now to people. At least we are very pleased with the result, so happy reading! For those who would like a preview an excerpt is available on-line:
“6LoWPAN: The Wireless Embedded Internet” – Chapter 1
I will be releasing the book’s companion course slides and exercises very soon at http://6lowpan.net.
More here.
November 17, 2009 at 4:16 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
A new way to access and reuse environmental data from diverse sources has been devised by European researchers. They foresee a future where environmental data and services are offered on the open market.
Every day numerous sensors on earth and in space observe the condition of land, atmosphere and oceans for multiple purposes ranging from weather forecasting to monitoring of nuclear incidents. Important political decisions, such as how to adapt better to climate change, depend ultimately on scientific insights gained from these observations. But at present there is no simple way to access and use that data.
“We are investing lots of resources to make measurements for a particular reason, but the information obtained may never be used again,” says Denis Havlik of the Austrian Institute of Technology. “Perhaps people don’t know that certain information exists or they cannot access it; sometimes they can access it but they don’t know how to use it, or it is too complicated to get in touch with the data owner.”
More here.
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